Most people commonly associate AIDS with Africa, and then go about their daily lives forgetting that AIDS affects those all over the world, like a constant blackshadow following those infected, slowly ticking away their minutes left to live... ....................... those blackshadows are just more populous in Africa. But that doesn't mean other countries or continents don't have a problem. India, a country which was later affected by HIV than most others, faced a problem in the 1990s when the levels of HIV soared. Even now, battling overpopulation, poverty, and poor health, HIV proves to be yet another daunting obstacle in the way of India's climb to the First World.
History
In 1986, there were over 20,000 cases reported cases of AIDS worldwide. However, in India, not a single HIV/AIDS case existed. Despite not having a problem with the virus, India still began setting up areas where one could get an HIV screen test around the country, in preparation for the inevitable; AIDS infecting Indians. By the end of 1987, after testing 52 907 of the Indian population, 135 people were found to be HIV positive and another 14 had already developed AIDS. The following timeline summarizes much of development of the HIV issue in India over the next several decades:
1992: the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) is created by the government to oversee prevention treatment of AIDS
1992: a Strategic Plan is initiated by NACO which set up prevention facilities in states by the State AIDS Control Societies
1990s: the problem of HIV/ AIDS spreads to every state in India, and the number of HIV patients continues to increase rapidly
1999: the second phase of the National AIDS Control Program (NACP II) come into effect, working to promote prevention of HIV by encouraging behaviour changes. In the same year, the Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) was implemented in India as well as the introduction of free antiretroviral drugs which would help prevent AIDS transmission.
2006: UNAIDS estimates that 5.6 million people in India are infected with AIDS, the highest AIDS population in the world.
2009: It was estimated that 0.3% of the population, or 2.4 million people, lived with AIDS. While this is still a small percentage of the country's population, due to the incredibly large number of people in India, this still makes the country the third in ranking in terms of the most number of people with AIDS.
Problems Within Each State:
With so many people in India, the HIV pandemic is not as large of an issue in some places as it is in others. Because of this, India is often split into its separate states when statistics for the HIV virus are being completed. With more people in each Indian state than most African countries, the information from the statistics is still not extremely specific, but it does allow for trends to be observed.
States with Higher Rates of AIDS Infection
Women with HIV Unfortunately, a huge problem in India in terms of the spread and even prevention of AIDS and HIV is the stigma women receive when associated with, or infected with AIDS. Women are extremely vulnerable to the HIV virus because of their low social status and little rights. In India, these problems are focussed on; when females are born into a household, the family literally mourns the birth of the child; these unequal ideologies cause the female population to be at a great risk of AIDS and HIV.
It all begins with a severe lack of education. According to UNAIDS, 95% of the people infected with HIV in India are unaware of their condition. Only four of ten women at a reproductive age have heard of AIDS. This is split into two sub- categories; only 18% of illiterate women have heard of AIDS compare to 92% of those who have completed high school.
Even without AIDS, women are subjected to violence and discrimination based solely on their gender. In many cases when they do have AIDS, however, they could be refused access to treatment and care, denied entrance to their homes and even blamed for their husband's HIV diagnosis. Even if the husband admits to sexual activity with others, the wife is still blamed, as she has not been able to adequately 'satisfy' her husband.
A study shows that 48.7% of women with AIDS are violently abused in their households.
Among Women in India Who Have Heard of AIDS, PercentWho Do Not Know Any Way to Avoid Infection
Real Life Concerns...
Most men who have HIV in India do not tell their parents, especially if they are single. Because being married into a proper household is such an important cultural aspect of life for both men and women in India, the men will marry innocent girls, only telling them after their marriage of their AIDS infection. The women, if she has heard of AIDS at all, will avoid any sort of sexual intercourse with her husband for fear of also acquiring the virus. However, the male's mother-in-law reprimands the daughter for not being pregnant, and threatens to kick her out of the house and have the son remarried if she is not given a grandchild. Due to the social shame that the wife would face if her husband left her, she has no choice but to sleep with her husband in the hopes of becoming pregnant. By this time, however, she has become infected with the HIV virus, and there is a high chance that her children will be as well as her blood intermingles with the circulation of the child in her womb... BECAUSE OF THE UNEQUAL AND HARSH SOCIAL SYSTEM IN INDIA, WOMEN MUST SUFFER FROM AID/HIV...
Most people commonly associate AIDS with Africa, and then go about their daily lives forgetting that AIDS affects those all over the world, like a constant black shadow following those infected, slowly ticking away their minutes left to live...
....................... those black shadows are just more populous in Africa. But that doesn't mean other countries or continents don't have a problem. India, a country which was later affected by HIV than most others, faced a problem in the 1990s when the levels of HIV soared. Even now, battling overpopulation, poverty, and poor health, HIV proves to be yet another daunting obstacle in the way of India's climb to the First World.
History
In 1986, there were over 20,000 cases reported cases of AIDS worldwide. However, in India, not a single HIV/AIDS case existed. Despite not having a problem with the virus, India still began setting up areas where one could get an HIV screen test around the country, in preparation for the inevitable; AIDS infecting Indians. By the end of 1987, after testing 52 907 of the Indian population, 135 people were found to be HIV positive and another 14 had already developed AIDS. The following timeline summarizes much of development of the HIV issue in India over the next several decades:
Problems Within Each State:
With so many people in India, the HIV pandemic is not as large of an issue in some places as it is in others. Because of this, India is often split into its separate states when statistics for the HIV virus are being completed. With more people in each Indian state than most African countries, the information from the statistics is still not extremely specific, but it does allow for trends to be observed.
States with Higher Rates of AIDS Infection
Women with HIV
Unfortunately, a huge problem in India in terms of the spread and even prevention of AIDS and HIV is the stigma women receive when associated with, or infected with AIDS. Women are extremely vulnerable to the HIV virus because of their low social status and little rights. In India, these problems are focussed on; when females are born into a household, the family literally mourns the birth of the child; these unequal ideologies cause the female population to be at a great risk of AIDS and HIV.
Among Women in India Who Have Heard of AIDS, Percent Who Do Not Know Any Way to Avoid Infection
Real Life Concerns...
Most men who have HIV in India do not tell their parents, especially if they are single. Because being married into a proper household is such an important cultural aspect of life for both men and women in India, the men will marry innocent girls, only telling them after their marriage of their AIDS infection. The women, if she has heard of AIDS at all, will avoid any sort of sexual intercourse with her husband for fear of also acquiring the virus. However, the male's mother-in-law reprimands the daughter for not being pregnant, and threatens to kick her out of the house and have the son remarried if she is not given a grandchild. Due to the social shame that the wife would face if her husband left her, she has no choice but to sleep with her husband in the hopes of becoming pregnant. By this time, however, she has become infected with the HIV virus, and there is a high chance that her children will be as well as her blood intermingles with the circulation of the child in her womb...
BECAUSE OF THE UNEQUAL AND HARSH SOCIAL SYSTEM IN INDIA, WOMEN MUST SUFFER FROM AID/HIV...